Grammar Lessons
by Chuckles the Cheat
Summary: As a new grammar teacher, Cynder teaches a few comma and quotation tips to third grade. Just a short I did, for no reason.


**Grammar Lessons**

School. Not always the best part of the day, but it was necessary, even if some others didn't think so. The attenders only had to suffer through six years, then they would graduate, regardless of their grades. There were tests, of course, but they were only an examination of how well the student was doing and what subjects he lacked in.

At the moment, a black dragoness eagerly awaited in the principal's office, hoping to hear some good news. She looked around the small room to find two bookshelves toward her right, filled with different sorts of books she never read before. Behind the principal's desk were two windows, equally a symmetrical distance apart from each other. Sunlight beamed through the windows, lighting up the whole room. Toward the left was a few shelves that looked a bit new. There weren't dusty like the bookshelves, neither were they holding anything.

"Now Mrs. Cynder," an elderly dragon began, examining the smaller black dragoness. He cleared his throat and continued in a more official tone. "I see you're applying to be a teacher, correct?"

Cynder nodded, showing a friendly smile in return.

She watched the lime green scaled reptile look back down onto his chestnut colored desk and shifted a few papers around, eyeing each of them carefully. Cynder thought he was going to need a bigger desk. This dragon was four times her own size. It amazed her on how the wooden chair underneath him didn't collapse from all the weight.

The black dragoness took notice of a few objects on the principal's desk while she sat in her own chair in front of it. It wasn't much. There was a small box off to the side, obviously containing something that she couldn't see. A few picture frames decorated the edges of the desk as well, but she couldn't see whom they were a picture of from her point of view. An inkwell off to the other side, as well as an quill too. Other than that, there wasn't nothing else to see.

The principal picked up a document, which Cynder recognized. It was information about herself that she signed yesterday. "Alright, I've looked over your files and you seem pretty reliable."

"Thanks," Cynder replied in relief.

The lime green dragon set the paper back down and showed the first smile she had ever seen from him. "We desperately need a grammar teacher, so how would you like to fill in that position?"

"Grammar?" the black dragoness repeated, sounding a bit thrown off.

The principal immediately noticed Cynder's change of attitude. His voice changed to one with worry, "You know about grammar don't you?"

"Of course," Cynder quickly answered, rescuing her pride.

The principal's smile returned, "Excellent. You'll be teaching third grade in room eight. Ten a.m. tomorrow. Don't be late."

"Don't worry," Cynder assured. She stood to her feet with a clear expression of joy in her voice. "I'll do my best."

_The Following Morning_

Cynder kept her word on not being late. In fact, she arrived thirty minutes early just to be safe. She also wanted a few minutes to look around the school. It wasn't that big anyways so it wouldn't take long.

The school only consisted of short hallways and seventeen rooms. The black dragoness questioned on the room count since there were only six grades, but quickly figured out the reason for it. Each room had a label on the door, making it easier to identify what was inside. Six rooms for six grades, plus four bathrooms, two storage rooms, a library, an indoor gym, teacher's lounge, and the principals office. The remaining room was locked, had no window to look through, and was only labeled as 'restricted'. Cynder left it alone, guessing that it contained supplies for the school itself, such as text books and whatnot.

The hallway's width was average size, plenty of room to move around. The walls were decorated with school posters, pictures, and paintings some of the classes made. Truthfully, they looked like they were made by first graders, so she let those slide. She wasn't going to be teaching art anyways.

"Ah, there you are Mrs. Cynder."

The black dragoness turned around to see the principal approaching her from down the hall.

"Mr. Grenval," she greeted simply.

"Come along," he beckoned. "It's almost time for you to meet the class."

Cynder nodded, then followed the larger dragon down hall a little ways. The classroom wasn't too far away from where she was. It was just a short walk down the hall and it was the third door on her left. The door was labeled as simply labeled as room eight, and she could see through the small window placed near the top of the door.

"Before we enter," the principal began. "I forgot to tell you that the new grammar text books haven't arrived yet."

"Mail running slow?" Cynder quietly joked.

Mr. Grenval smiled in amusement, then continued. "Is there any possible way you can teach the class from memory for today?"

"Shouldn't be a problem," Cynder confidently replied.

"If you have any problem with a student, send him to my office and I will get it sorted out. But I doubt it will come to that, especially from a third grader."

"Is that so?"

Mr. Grenval slightly nodded. "Grammar class lasts for thirty minutes. A bell will ring when it's time for you to leave. The students will stay in their rooms until their next teacher comes in. Anyways, let's get to work then shall we?"

Cynder silently agreed, then watched the principal open the door. Any talking that was going on, immediately ceased when the students saw the principal. Then they saw Cynder as she made a quick headcount of how many she was teaching. It was only seven, which wasn't what she was expecting. She thought there would be more.

"Class," the principal began, looking around the small classroom carefully. "This will be your new grammar teacher, Mrs. Cynder."

"Just call me Cynder," the black dragoness added. "Miss, isn't necessary."

Most of the classroom was quiet. Every dragon in the classroom seemed to be a different color, except purple, of course. The room itself contained seven desks, which held the seven students. The teachers desk was fairly small, but Cynder didn't see the point of having a big one anyways if she was only teaching one subject. A chalkboard covered most of the wall behind her desk, except for the ends. Several posters hung on the two side walls, and a large shelf covered the back wall of the room, which held the students belongings.

Mr. Grenval turned to face Cynder. "Alright, if you have questions or problems, come to me and I'll help the best I can."

"Thanks Mr. Grenval."

The principal grinned, then paced himself out the room. As soon as he shut the door, Cynder turned toward the classroom and showed an uneasy smile. This was going to take some getting used to.

Cynder walked over to the desk and leaned on it. She looked the classroom over once more, then asked. "May I ask for your names please?"

A bright red dragon near the front was the first to stand. Surprisingly, this particular dragon was actually a she, which was very unusual, considering the color.

"I'm Flare," the child enthusiastically said. Cynder could hear a hint of a tomboyish attitude in her voice. She smiled as Flare quickly sat back down in her small desk.

A dark yellow next to her was the next to stand. "My name is Sparkler," he simply said in a polite tone. Cynder nodded then allowed him to sit back down.

Next up was the greenish dragon next to him. Unable to hold back a smile, he introduced himself. "Malchite," he put it simply, before sitting back down.

Afterwards, an ultramarine colored dragon stood up behind Flare. Not even a moment after that, a sky blue toddler stood up next to him.

"I'm Careen," the ultramarine toddler began.

The sky blue dragon next to him continued, "And I'm Carmine."

Careen smiled, then both of them simultaneously nearly exclaimed, "We're twins!"

Cynder smiled. It wasn't often she saw twins. She let them sit back down then saw a smaller pink dragon next to them stand up.

"I'm . . . Blossom," she quietly said, then sat back down without second thoughts. Cynder let it go. She was probably just nervous that there was a new teacher and all.

The last one up was a snow colored male. He seemed to be a bit taller than the rest of them, but still held a smile. "My name's Cloud."

Cynder nodded as Cloud sat back down. The black dragoness looked the students over a second time, naming each dragon in her mind to make sure she had it right. Satisfied, she finally introduced herself.

"Thank you class. As you all already may know, my name is Cynder and I'll be teaching you grammar from now on." Her smiled disappeared as she went into thought. "_At least until I get a better job._"

"I know who you are!" Flare called out, catching Cynder's attention. She seemed a bit excited.

"You . . . do?"

Flare nodded furiously. "I heard you kicked some serious butt a long time ago! Your like . . . a hero!"

"Yeah!" Cloud joined in. "A hero!"

Cynder couldn't help but blush a little. It wasn't often she was called a hero, even after she defeated Malefor. Spyro was the one who got most of the attention, though she didn't really care much then.

"Whatcha gonna teach us today Cynder?" Sparkler curiously asked.

Cynder smiled. "Is everyone familiar with what grammar is?"

Malchite quickly answered before anyone else could. "It's about commas and different use of words, right?"

The black dragoness nodded, "Yes, very good." Truthfully, Cynder wasn't sure on where to start. Comma's? Contractions? She thought about it for a moment then decided to go with comma's for now. Those seemed a bit easier than contractions. "Let's start with comma's."

The class was quiet as they attentively listened to what she had to say.

"Comma's are used to separate different part's a sentence." Cynder turned around to the chalkboard then looked around for a piece of chalk to use. She found a somewhat long piece, then wrote an example sentence on the board. "This sentence says, 'He bought a present, wrapped it up, and stored it away.' Do you see how the comma's are used?"

"Sure do," Carmine replied for the class. Everyone seemed to agree.

Cynder turned back toward the board, then wrote another quick sentence. She then read it aloud. "'He bought a big present, but needed more wrapping paper.' Now here we used a comma before the conjunction 'but'."

"A conjunction?" Sparkler questioned.

Cynder frowned. "_I really need a text book._" She thought for a moment, then decided to continue. "We'll talk more about conjunctions later. Let's just stay on comma's for right now."

The class stayed quiet.

"Anyways, usually you can just look at a sentence closely and see where a comma can go. For instance . . ." Cynder wrote down another small sentence on the board. "Here, it says, 'After buying a big present he realized that he needed more paper.' Okay class, can you tell me where the comma goes?"

Everyone was quiet for a moment. After reading the sentence a few times, Blossom was the first to answer. "Does it go after 'present'?"

"Correct!" Cynder happily said. She drew a comma between 'present' and 'he'. "Good job Blossom!"

"Thanks," she happily replied, though she was still a bit quiet.

Cynder smiled. "Does anyone have any questions about comma's so far?"

She waited a moment, but no one said anything. It seemed as if she was doing an okay job, considering that she was doing this from her own head.

The day dragged on by. Cynder mentioned to the class a few more things about comma's then decided to move on to quotation marks.

"Okay class," Cynder began. "Quotation marks are really easy to learn about. They just look like two commas put together like this." She turned a made a simple quotation mark on the board.

"What are they for Mrs. Cynder?" Careen asked.

"Quotation marks are used to separate speech from a sentence. Let me show you an example."

The class watched as Cynder quickly wrote a sentence on the board. Flare and Sparkler traded curious glances then looked back up to see their teacher was finished.

"Now here, I wrote, 'Mr. Grenval asked, "Where did the paper go?"' In this sentence, we put the quotation marks around what Mr. Grenval says. We always put quotation marks, after the exclamation mark, period, comma, or question mark at the end of the quote."

"Always?" Sparkler responded.

Cynder nodded, "Always."

"It looks pretty easy," Cloud informed, leaning back in his desk.

"That's because we have a cool teacher," Malchite added.

Cynder's blush returned to her face. She explained a few more tips on quotation marks, but before they knew it, a bell had rung. The class went by faster than she had anticipated it to.

"Aw," Carmine went in disappointment. "But we just got started."

Careen nodded. "I was thinking the same thing."

"Don't worry," Cynder assured. "I'll be back tomorrow." Then she showed a comforting smile, "_With an actual text book hopefully._" She made her way for the door, then turned back around and waved. "Bye."

"Bye!" the classed waved back in unison.

Cynder slowly opened the classroom door to see the hallway had a bit more activity than it did earlier. There were some older students roaming the hall, as well as teachers and workers. The black dragoness turned around, waved one last time, then shut the door.

"_What a nice bunch_."

Authors note: Not to sound mean, but this oneshot was inspired by a bunch of fics which lacked proper grammar. This was to inspire those to inject some grammar into their stories and make it easier to read, therefore making it better. Grammar isn't an option, it's a priority. If your story lacks it, then it may not be that good. If you don't know that much about grammar, then that is what beta readers are for. Don't be afraid to ask them for help. Even pro writers often need their help from time to time.

Any grammar mistakes in this story is purely for amusement of an ironic situation. But . . . if you spot any, you may get bonus muffins. Why muffins? Because cookies are overrated, and truthfully, I like muffins better.


End file.
